Tamiya 1/35th M-26 Pershing

 reviewed by Steve Jantscher 

Kit Summary

Plastic Quality:	A
Decal Quality:	A
Instructions Quality:	A

What's not to like about a modern Tamiya Armor kit? This model continues the now thankfully growing list of superb fighting vehicles that Tamiya started a few years ago with their superb Tiger I tanks.

In the box this is an impressive kit. Some nit pickers have pointed out the lack of welded on turret serial numbers, and perhaps Tamiya should have caught that detail. The other nits are a lack of turnbuckles on the side of the fenders, something that the DML kit provided. However, on the very big plus side, is a crisp molding of a model that is sure to go together better than most (Gotta Love Tamiya for that...) and a variable bogie tension system that some have complained about. The road wheel suspension arms are free to move, and are kept in tension by a torsion bar type suspension system on the drive sprockets and first set of road wheels. This will easily allow the modeler to pose his tank going over an obstacle with the road wheels showing the correct upward deflection. This is in keeping with the trend in Tamiya of late, evidenced by the 1/32nd scale Zero, of providing new and novel "moveable" surfaces. How this feature will work with after market tread sets, I don't know. With the good looking plastic treads provided, it ought to work quite well.

In addition to two "new" crew figures, the kit comes with another very nice .50 caliber M2 machine gun, some K ration crates and some extra ammo cans to give the vehicle a well used look. Markings are included for three WWII U.S. Army and one Korean war U.S. Marine tank. It is the latter that I will build, having come across some riveting combat photography by David Douglas Duncan of Pershings (the same group as the markings are provided for) fighting in a city (Inchon ?)

This looks like a great kit, and I'm just waiting for a PE set and some Fruili' Model tracks before I start mine. One nice after market addition to this kit is the Loon Models clear blue casting of the tank commanders window copula. This allows a realistic clear blue tint to the windows. this is a drop in type of part, and only requires some masking prior to painting to make the whole assembly come off grand.
 

The decals look to be pretty good and Tamiya thin, but I wonder how they will stand up to being put on an OD surface.